World media looks at Agni-V through China prism

The successful launch of India's long-range nuclear-capable missile was given prominent display in dailies across the world, including the US, Britain and South Asia, with most highlighting the fact that the Agni-V could reach China.

Washington: The successful launch of India's long-range nuclear-capable missile was given prominent display in dailies across the world, including the US, Britain and South Asia, with most highlighting the fact that the Agni-V could reach China.

Dramatic images of the missile, which has a range of 5,000 km, lifting off from its launch pad in India's Odisha state accompanied the story.

The New York Times wondered whether the missile test "is the latest escalation of an arms race in Asia, where the assertiveness and rising military power of China has rattled the region and prompted a forceful response from the Obama administration".

It said that with the launch of the missile "capable of reaching Beijing and Shanghai", India joined a small club of nations with long-range nuclear capability, including China, Britain, France, Russia, Israel and the US.

The article noted that perhaps no Asian nation has been "more unnerved by rising Chinese power than India".

"The two countries share a growing trading relationship and are often aligned on global issues like trade and climate change. Yet many Indian strategic planners now regard China, rather than Pakistan, as the country's gravest military threat," the daily added.

The Wall Street Journal, on its part, said that New Delhi hopes the missile launch will send "a message of strength to China".

It noted that the launch "drew little criticism or expressions of mistrust from outside India".

Calling India's ties with China as "stable, though frosty", the daily said the main achievement of the test-firing was one of range: "The locally built Agni-V missile can now travel 5,000 km or comfortably as far as most of China, including Beijing and Shanghai, which many in India view as a decisive step in narrowing the nation's military gap with its neighbour".